A team of instructors from Kenya’s Humanitarian Peace Support School (HPSS) will train the army, police, local government and health officials in skills of managing disasters, a senior Police officer told The New Times.

Chief Superintendent of Police, Damas Gatare said the program will initially dwell on analysis and training of all stake-holders, involved in disaster management.

The training will involve coordination, control and command of the operations.

Apart from the very recent Volcanoes National Park fire outbreak, Rwanda has been exposed to other such disasters in the past. Gatare notes that this training is in line with strengthening the country’s capacity to deal with possible future calamities.

"The aim of the training is to harmonize what we have done and what we are doing, and find out how we can best manage and coordinate future incidences.”

Established in January 2001 as part of the Kenyan Defence Staff College, the centre became a separate establishment in July 2006.

The centre’s academic program is comprised of two platforms: the Peace and Conflict Studies School (PCSS) and the Humanitarian Peace Support School (HPSS).

Its mission is to conduct training and education of military, civilian, and police personnel in order to build security capacity in the East African region.

This year’s wild fires in Virunga National park were contained by the park staff and soldiers from the Gabiro army training school.

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